About.
INSPIRED TO BE DIFFERENT.
I have been lucky enough to work with SAP my entire career. My journey started end-user side. I ran my first SAP implementation project early in my early twenties and went on to form an SAP Centre of Excellence to allow for long-term improvement. Over the next 6 years, I ran 3 other major change programmes before joining the consulting world. For the next 10 years, I worked with various consultancies running numerous projects in a variety of sectors – retail, utilities, banking, public sector, government etc. I successfully led the completion of over 15 full SAP lifecycles, involving in-house teams, consultancy teams, offshore teams and contractor teams. At that point I took a senior leadership/board position and my work moved onto creating the same success for others. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate enough to run some amazing transformation programmes for some big brands. I am a bit of a geek at heart and have a deep technical understanding as a result. It is a huge positive for clients. It means I can challenge traditional thinking and ensure clients are getting the best value for money. Fundamentally business transformation is in my DNA. Neil How
In early 2015 I started to get a little disillusioned with the ERP marketplace, mainly because of three core problems.
Outside of work, my family are a pivotal part of life. As one of three siblings, I was brought up in a close-knit family environment which continues despite us venturing down different paths. My parent’s car rental business installed a strong work ethic and undoubtedly inspired me to start my own business. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have met the most important person in my life, my wife. She is my best friend and council and keeps me going when things get tough. We are lucky enough to have a little boy who is the source of much enjoyment. I am relishing the role of the doting father! Neil How
I always make time for health and fitness and am happy turning my hand to any new sport. I particularly enjoy a game of squash and am a fairly advanced scuba diver and horse rider. I find exercise a great way to unwind or prepare for the day ahead. Outside of exercise, I play the guitar and am trying to teach myself the piano. I think my wife will be a testament to the latter not going so well!
My wife and I love to travel and try to get away at least once during the year. Personal highlights include Peru, Amazon Rainforest, New York, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. With so much to see, I consider myself very privileged to have the opportunity to explore different cultures and environments.
Problem.
GREAT PROJECTS MATTER.
After spending time working end user side and consulting side, there are three problems no-one has yet to solve. My mission is to create great peace of mind projects delivered in a timely, cost-controlled manner.
01. TIMESCALES.
In the digital world projects that take longer than 6 months are quickly out of date. I wanted to build a company capable of high-performance SAP delivery, coupled with business transformation, fit for the digital era.
02. COST SENSITIVE.
SAP has a dreadful sigma of being expensive. Cost is inextricably linked to timescales. We solve one, we solve the other. I wanted to build a company to achieve a more sensitive project from a cost perspective.
03. GOVERNANCE AND CONTROL.
Operating at speed does not mean compromising governance or control. It just means a different take on it. I wanted to achieve both acceleration and cost reduction without compromising governance.
Solution.
ACCELERATED SAP.
After working with some of the best delivery teams, interviewing SAP customers and scouring the Globe for best practice, RunFast was born. It incorporates best practice from transformation programmes and capitalises on concepts from Lean Management, DevOps and Agile. The culmination is a methodology that lets us run at an unmatched pace.
Our offering includes training for project teams, accelerator templates, frameworks, and preconfigured outputs. We couple this we some clever automation in key areas and a highly trained delivery team to create hyper-charged change. Granted these projects are hard work, but the result is what every executive wants, a short timeframe, low cost and a safely implemented SAP transformation project. Ultimately giving the CEO piece of mind and allowing them to sleep at ease, whilst we take care of their most career-defining project. Neil How
METHODOLOGY.
We have grouped the RunFast methodology around six fundamental areas.
- Preparation – Ensure you, and your team, are highly prepared in advance. Key steps to set up your project to succeed;
- Reorganisation – Simplify the process around delivery, use advanced tooling and embed simplicity into the design;
- Outcomes – Drive outcomes throughout the life of the project and create decision makers that make an impact;
- Mindset – Change the mindset of the delivery team to one of success (both customer and project teams);
- People – Empower and set people up to succeed. Work to their best strengths;
- Tempo – How to maintain an aggressive delivery tempo without burning out.
The feedback on the RunFast offering process has been fantastic. We have been inundated with customers and prospects asking how we achieve such incredible results. I am a firm believer in giving but I cannot get our techniques and story out to enough people. I am passionate about our industry, it is in my blood – everyone deserves to benefit from our knowledge. Hence the book was born… Neil How
Book.
RUNFAST.
We are really excited to get our knowledge out into the wider world so that everyone can benefit from accelerated SAP projects. RunFast explains our 6 step process and gives everyone hope that accelerated projects are within their capability. Pick up your copy today!
Limelight.
DELIVERING ACCELERATED SAP.
Limelight was created to use the RunFast framework to deliver amazing projects for clients. Personally, I believe the consulting industry, through poor execution, has tarnished the reputation of SAP projects. Projects are cancelled, they go hideously over budget and delivered years late. The reputation of these projects is in tatters. I am on a mission to work with clients to prove that SAP projects can be delivered in a timely manner under cost and governance controlled environments. These projects are really not as hard as history dictates. Neil How
Thank you for reading this far. I created Limelight to create a difference in the SAP space. We are best known for our RunFast offering delivering truly remarkable SAP programmes. We are known as the rainmakers of our industry, turning cynics into believers. We help clients implement SAP in a safe, secure, timely manner. Completely within control. After working with us you will feel refreshed and energised through the scale of change delivered and will be proud to put the accolade on your CV. We provide you with the peace of mind you deserve whilst delivering your SAP programme. Neil How
Running alongside our RunFast delivery is our commitment to change the world whilst delivering projects 🙂 Working with B1G1 and aligning to the United Nations Goals For Sustainable Development for every day consulting we bill we provide a month of education to a child in some of the world’s toughest areas. 10 days = 10 months. Simple. It is magical being part of something bigger and making a real difference to the world. Neil How
